Vital records (birth, marriage, death) provide important information on the connections and major events of our ancestors lives. But, vital records go far beyond the basic certificates that we often consider. This class will be a combined lecture and workshop, with hands-on exercises in the use of vital records. This class will only be covering civil vital records - use of church records, newspapers, etc. will be covered in other classes. Included will be:

Availabilty of birth, marriage, and death records: requirements for recording

Interpreting the information in records is not always as simple as it seems, and a mis-step can send your research down the garden path. This class will look at common issues and mistakes that need to be avoided. Included will be discussions of:

Source citations are a vital element in allowing us and our readers to 1) relocate a source, if needed and 2) evaluate the quality and likely reliability of our information. Few genealogists start out understanding, let alone writing, appropriate source citations to support their research, and in the long-term most seriously regret this failure. This class will be a combined lecture and workshop on how to write source citations. Included will be:

Many records that we use as genealogists are fairly extensive and may have significant amounts of boiler-plate language; particularly land records and court records. Older handwriting can make these documents even more difficult to work with. Transcribing these types of documents, while taking a bit of time, means not having to re-translate that writing over and over again. Making an abstract then helps to preserve the essential information without having to wade through the boiler-plate material over and over again. Extracting records provides a compact version of what can be voluminous record sets. This class will cover the standard methods for generating transcripts, abstracts, and extracts or records. This class will be a combined lecture and workshop.

Standards help us to do our best work. The Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) provides a guideline for establishing a genealogical conclusion with reasonable certainty. The class will include an exercise in determining if an example conclusion meets the GPS. Included will be:

Unless you're Native American, your ancestors came here from somewhere else, a process called immigration. Once here, they had the option to go throught the process of naturalization in order become a citizen. This class will be a combined lecture and workshop on immigration and naturalization records. Included will be:

A brief history of immigration and naturalization in the United States

Common immigration routes

Common types of immigration records

Common types of naturalization records

Saturday, July 20

Using City Directories & Maps to Full Advantage (Classes)

1:00 pm to 3:00 pm

21C Library - Computer Lab

Instructor: Ed Storey

Recommended Minimum Experience Level: Beginner

Class Size: 32

Restrictions: None. Open to the public. Computer skills not required, but the ability to follow along on the computers will enhance the class experience.

Some of our ancestors lived in the city, some in the country, and most of them owned land or other property. These records can help us place our ancestors in time and place, as well as tell us much about their economic status. This class will be a combined lecture and workshop on land and property records. Included will be:

Common types of property records

Indexes to deeds

Typical deed information and language

Land descriptions and how to plot them

Tax lists and what they tell us

Homesteads

Maps

Other interesting property records

Sunday, September 1

Church and Cemetery Records in Depth (Classes)

1:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Location TBD

TENTATIVE: CLASS TO BE SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER - ACTUAL DATE & TIME WILL BE PROVIDED WHEN AVAILABLE

Most of our ancestors claimed an affiliation with some religion and all of our ancestors eventually died, with most being buried (until recent history when cremation has become more common, with or without a following burial). Depending on denomination, church records can provide significant information on the major events in our ancestors lives. Cemeteries might be associated with the ancestor's church, or might be publically or privately owned. This class will be a combined lecture and workshop on church and property records. Included will be:

Restrictions: Open to PPGS members only. Students must have a working knowledge of basic genealogy (pedigree charts, use of basic genealogy records, etc.)
Reservations: Required; e-mail instructor at greg.liverman@live.com

This is an introduction to the use of genetic testing for genealogy and will cover testing companies, the different types of tests, ancestry admixture (ethnicity), the basic science of DNA inheritance and will include some examples and case studies.

Tuesday, October 1

Military Records in Depth (Classes)

1:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Location TBD

TENTATIVE: CLASS TO BE SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER - ACTUAL DATE & TIME WILL BE PROVIDED WHEN AVAILABLE